Philly’s Oddest Museum: The Mutter Museum (Philadelphia, PA)

George Widman for the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
The Mutter Museum (Philadelphia, PA)

Philadelphia has plenty of great places to eat, but you might want to save them for later if you’re visiting the Mutter Museum. The artifacts on display at this unique institution, part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, have the potential to turn your stomach.

The collection dates to the mid-19th century stipulations of the eccentric donor Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter, who was essentially an early plastic surgeon. Dr. Mutter was determined to establish an educational research facility for medical anomalies – the weirder, the better. Visitors to the suitably gloomy exhibition hall of the museum best bring their keenest curiosity and their blackest sense of humor: The whole place is dedicated to the preservation of the human body in its most fragile, humbling forms.